Homemade Rye Boule

Right now I’m reading the book French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano. I’m not really looking to lose weight or anything; I’m just obsessed with food (obviously) and very intrigued by the obesity epidemic plaguing America. It’s astonishing and just plain sad how so many people struggle with their weight here in the United States. I can’t speak for everyone, but to me it seems that some just don’t realize what they are doing to themselves (my hypothesis come from working summer jobs in the food industry). It makes me so sad to see people gorging on processed sweets and candy, when food really is so much more.

I’m only about halfway through the book, but it has made me laugh and cry and think about my own interactions with food. The French way is quite simple: quality over quantity.

My family has always tried to uphold our standards to this rule by shopping at the farmers market and buying organic ingredients whenever possible. I wish more people would see the beauty of fresh ingredients and do the same. For instance, I was looking at a farmers market peach I was eating the other day, with it’s juices trickling down my hand and its sweet smell engulfing my senses, and I was just completely amazed at how something so delicious and lovely was grown from the earth. I don’t know, but this book makes me want to chew more slowly, and take time to appreciate my food more. Half the time I’m just eating, and I appreciate how delicious everything is, but it’s on-the-surface delicious. I don’t take time to think about the flavors and textures in each bite. I want to try to practice more thinking about my food as I eat in my daily life.

Well, enough about my own goals and the sad processed world of modern day food, because I recently made two beautiful rye boules.

God, bread baking is so magical, and just downright beautiful when you look at the results.

This rye bread recipe is adapted from Amsterdam Food Stories ,

With added notes of my own.

Homemade Rye Bread

{ 3 cups white flour / 1⅓ cup rye flour / 2 ½ tsp salt / 14 gr dry yeast /

 3 cups lukewarm water / more flour to work with (aka at least 2 cups) }

Mix both flours and salt together in a big bowl.

In another bowl, combine the water and the yeast and let it rest for about 5 minutes or until you can smell the yeast and the mixture has started to foam a bit.

Combine both bowls, make sure there are no flour pockets, but don’t over-mix. Leave this bowl at room temperature for 2 hours up to overnight, until it has risen well. Do not cover it.

Kneed the dough by hand, using some more flour to make it less sticky. (At this point, you will need to add a lot more flour to create a “dough” consistency.

Lightly oil two big bowls with canola oil.

Divide the dough into two, create small balls and lightly dust them with flour. Place them in the separate, big, lightly oiled bowls. Cover them with cling film and a towel and let them rise for another 2-4 hours.

Prepare your oven: preheat it to 425 degrees F, place a pizza stone (big enough for two small boules) in the middle of your oven and place an empty tray underneath it (for the water later on). While your pizza stone is heating, boil at least 3 cups of water—5 if you are baking one at a time.

(My pizza stone is small so I baked one at a time.)

Take out your dough, gently shape them one last time and make sure they are lightly covered in flour. If you wish so, cut a pattern in the top of your bread. (I cut three slits in the top with a very sharp knife. The key to scoring the bread is a sharp knife and a swift, confident gesture while cutting.)

Gently place them on the pizza stone and fill the tray with 3 cups of boiling water (this will give you that lovely crust so it's very important!).

Bake the breads for 32 minutes. If you bake the boules one at a time, refill the tray with 2 more cups of water while you switch out the breads. When they are done, they should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Let them cool and serve.